By Joanna Anatole Chicago
What is there to tell? That there was once a little boy named Joey. Who laughed and played and loved his two big sisters. That he was only 24 when he died by suicide. What more is there to tell? That at age 14 he began to smoke pot and by age 22 he was diagnosed with major depression and bi-polar. That by 24 he couldn’t live with the demons that whirled inside his beautiful mind anymore. People ask me what came first, the depression and bi-polar or his drug use? I don’t know that answer. But this I do know, he was a normal child growing up. It was in his early teens he began recreationally smoking pot, and much later experimenting with other substances, but his drug of choice, was always marijuana. He loved pot. He was an extreme pot abuser, and as his use escalated so did his behaviors. He was stealing, his grades were plummeting, relationships with family were strained, he couldn’t hold on to a job. My sweet boy was changing before my very eyes into someone I did not know. We tried tough love. I watched one winter night the snow falling on his face as he slept in our back yard. We tried unconditional love, allowing him to live in the basement. We tried every love imaginable. Nothing worked. He was addicted to the weed he loved so much. It wasn’t until he got sober that he realized the pot he thought was calming him was actually causing the anxiety and paranoia he was trying to calm. He was unknowingly fueling the demons. What came first: pot or his mental illness? I will never know. But this I do know: Despite him admitting that marijuana didn’t help him as he had once thought, he went right back to smoking within 7-10 days after his return from multiple rehab. The first several rehabs were strictly because of his insatiable pot use – he tested clean for everything else. It was definitely pot fueling his behaviors. His life was becoming more and more unmanageable, and his depression worsened. He was eventually diagnosed as having major depression with bi-polar, but by then he felt he had no way out of the black hole of depression. Hopelessness ended his life.
As I said, we will never know what came first, his addiction to pot or his mental illness. But he was a normal child before he smoked. He was in junior baseball league and high school football. He went one year to university to get a BA degree in criminal justice. He aspired to be a police officer. But all that changed as he changed. He became someone I hardly recognized anymore. He was busted for possession on campus and told he could stay, with the agreement that if he got into trouble again he would be kicked out, and all our tuition and housing money would be forfeited. He choose not to return the next year because he knew he couldn’t sustain sobriety and that he would get caught again. This was a pivotal moment for him that would lead us down five more years of pure hell. As he slipped deeper into his depression his drug use escalated. He was no longer recreationally using pot, he was self medicating the growing demons. He was becoming more and more reckless. And while he wanted to be normal, I firmly believe it was his pot use that altered his brain chemistry. It is heartbreaking to watch your child implode. On September 19, 2016 I got the call. I was hoping he was in jail, or was in a car accident. Or accidentally overdosed and on his way to the hospital. Instead this is what I heard: “He is gone.” “Gone where? Gone to Colorado?” I replied. “He was found dead. I am sorry Mama D, but Joey is dead.” My life as I knew it changed that second. My son took his life when he grew tired. I look up to the heavens and ask him, “If you knew then what the outcome would be, would you have made different choices?” We won’t know the answer, but this I do know: I hope my grandchildren don’t grow up in a world where pot is legal. Millionaires become billionaires on the backs and lives of our children’s children. Decriminalize it? Yes. Perhaps. My son died as a felon on possession charges. What he deserves was mandated long-term rehab, with mental health treatment. Not jail. While I do not have the toxicology reports (their cost too prohibitive to obtain) his friend who was with him hours before he took his life did not mention he was smoking pot. I believe this to be true, because Joey was concerned about random drug testing. Pot stayed in his system too long to take that chance. Studies are showing that suicide is becoming more prevalent about 10 months after weed cessation. The timing of my son’s death with when he stopped smoking pot does line up. If this is true, how sad is that? I know some say pot is not a gateway. Perhaps not, but I don’t know many heroin addicts who started with heroin. The point is, marijuana tends to precede the use of other drugs, and that makes marijuana a gateway. Legalizing pot will be the downfall of the next generation. Once it is legalized, there will be no turning it back. My son deserved a chance, but we didn’t know then the devastating effects early onset of recreational marijuana would have on adolescent brains. When you know better you do better. Today we know better, and our child and your children deserve better. I summarize this with a story of a mother standing on a riverbank watching her son struggle to stay above two feet of water. The mother cries out, begs the child to take her hand, that she will pull him to safety. But the son cannot reach out. He tries but he is tired. He is so tired of the fight. His reach can’t grab his mother’s hand. Despite her desperate cries, his pain is all he hears. And as the mother stands screaming on the riverbank, with her hand still reaching out to her flailing son, he goes under and drowns in a mere two feet of water. And the grieving mother is forever changed. Rest In Peace my beloved son. You are forever missed, and I am forever changed.
I am so saddened by Joey’s Story, Joanna. Too many of our children gone before us. I wish you peace and healing. I picture our boys in Heaven, knowing each other and thanking us for telling their stories, that others may learn, that others may find recovery from the brain disease of addiction. Thank you for sharing with us, being Moms Strong with us.
Thank you for having the strength to tell Joey’s story. A mother trying to save her child from drowning in 2 feet of water. That is a perfect way to describe a Mother trying to save her son from addiction/drug use. Love to you. My condolences to you and your family.
Thank you Joanna. I also know all to well the feeling of losing your child as he’s drowning in 2 feet of water and you can’t save him. I couldn’t save my precious boy either. All I can say is God bless us all, each and every grieving Mom. Thank you for sharing Joey with us. Love to you Mom.
I am deeply moved by your story and thank you for writing this story as it must be so painful to think on it. My sister who is one year older than I, became extremely addicted to Marijuana. From the age of 18 -21 years, she smoked in my parents home almost nonstop 6-8hrs /day and my parents were clueless. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 21 and went in and out of mental hospitals until she was 30. She survived these years, and I have been told by 2 psychiatrists that her hallucinations and inability to know reality are the worse they have ever seen. The schizophrenic behavior came first but we in the family were all in denial. Looking back, i know schizophrenia & depression had been there since she was 9 yrs old and displayed abnormal hygiene practices when she began her menstrual cycle. The addiction to Marijuana fueled her shizophrenia & depression and created madness & chaos in her life and those around her. This emotional addiction to marijuana was replaced with tobacco.She never learned to care for herself, never held a job more than 6 months, never gave her the ability to have relationships with others outside of immediate family. She still at age 60 yrs, requires full care /observation from caregivers to keep her safe.
I am totally against legalizing Marijuana, in my opinion, it WILL accentuate the behaviors of young adults /teens that are born with propensity to mental illness.
For those who do not have mental illness, marijuana WILL steal away your ambitions and need to better yourself. Marijuana is a crutch, you will use it to initially calm yourself, but in reality it will prevent you from seeing the real world. For those who are now addicted to Marijuana, you won’t believe these stories, you will think you are doing just fine, but in reality Marijuana stole away your ability to obtain your dreams.
Joanna, thank you so much for sharing your story. My condolences on the death of your son. I see so much of my son in the words of your story….He is still out there, but using pot daily in an attempt to self medicate his depression. We see manic behavior, and he has always had issues with attachment and with being out of touch with reality. He started with k-2/spice and went on to abuse alcohol and to daily pot use. We too tried tough love (and everything else), but he moved away to Colorado his early 20’s, and as long as he is using, I doubt he will come home. I dread the phone call we may one day receive…..and I pray for my 11-year-old’s sake, that we stop this insanity and stop legalizing pot.